Well, it's fairly evident that the fanboy hate is out in force today, if the above post has already been reduced to a 0 score. Sadly, it appears that many people simply can't accept the idea that something may be appropriate for a "core gamer" if it doesn't have a controller scheme based around 2 thumbsticks. Really does make me wonder how many of them have taken the time to actually give one of those games on the Wii a real shot. So many people just try it for 15 minutes and give up, getting too frustrated too quickly about the quirks of the controls being completely different to what they're used to on a traditional controller. There seems to be an expectation that because it's motion control, they should be able to get used to it instantly. While that's true for non-gamers who don't have a lot of habits to break, it can take a while for gamers who have become used to dual-analog sticks to adapt.
Fairly sure we've had one for a while now, considering I just saw it down at my local shops. Not that it's seen much support.
Oh, here it is, and on Slashdot no less. The Asus Eee Stick, released circa 2008. My, how soon we forget.
Both New Zealand and Australia tend to be rather more liberated about language than the rest of the english speaking world, in my experience. Our politicians would be more free with what they can say during interviews for prime time news (or even in election debates) than what I gather Americans would let some of their comedians get away with after midnight. Bugger, bastard, bloody, shit-faced, wanker, etc, etc, it doesn't even rate a shrug.
Short-form of cm is "cent", as in "a standard metric ruler is 30 cents". Though I'm also heard people just say "C.M."
Don't forget also the alternative shortening for a kilometer already in common use in the US (military), "klick".
"Especially if everyone is using imperial"? Isn't this the entire point here? Everyone else, or that is to say, every other country of the world (except for two third world shitholes, one of which is currently converting to metric) uses the metric system for the vast majority of all measurements. Continuing use of the old imperial measurements by the US would be like consumers demanding companies continue to release movies in HD-DVD as well even though Blu-Ray has long since won that war. Actually, considering the gap between the systems of measurement, perhaps I should say that it's more like demanding companies release in Betamax instead of Blu-Ray.
Appeal to Authority fallacy much? Michio Kaku is an *American* Theoretical physicist whose work has little if anything to do with nuclear engineering. He is Japanese only by ethnicity (his parents both being immigrants), not that it's actually relevant to his views or their accuracy anyway. He's freely admitted in the past that he's biased against Nuclear power, due apparently to some radio programs he heard as a student, and is prominent in the anti-nuclear movement. He's also made similar alarmist remarks about nuclear power before, most notably in regards to the Cassini probe and its fuel. The guy is a great ambassador to the masses for science generally, but in this case he's just flat wrong.
...developers whose business is making the software for online forums. Those of you who run large web forums yourselves can probably guess who I'm talking about.
Yes, it's perfectly valid to not have the creative guys reading the forums on a regular basis (though if they post occasionally to make it look like they're taking an interest, it's generally a good thing), but you should certainly have support and marketing staff watching it. Those marketing guys have to remember though that the people on suc h user forums tend to be a vocal minority with an entitlement complex, who'll demand you make the game to satisfy their whims because they're your "biggest fans", no matter that the majority of the users will often want something totally different.
Agreed. I hear a whole of people talk down on the Wii controls, including for FPS, but I've never met a single person who hasn't found the Wii controls superior after actually sitting down and playing a couple of extended sessions. So many people just try it for 15 minutes and give up, getting too frustrated too quickly about the different quirks of the controls. There seems to be an expectation that because it's motion control, they should be able to get used to it instantly. While that's true for non-gamers who don't have a lot of habits to break, it can take a while for gamers who have become used to dual-analog sticks to adapt.
Then you're probably holding it wrong. The "arm raised pointing directly down at the screen" that so many people do is, I find, the most tiring and least precise way to hold it. Looks great in ads and at demo stations, but is horrible for actual extended gameplay.
What's stopping the student copying down the URL and looking at it outside of class time, or actually being prepared and downloading the required task material (and reading the slides posted up on the Blackboard site by the lecturer) prior to the lecture?
I used to do similar with my classes, though I found it came back to bite me at the end of semester in the "Teacher Evaluation surveys". Not a whole lot you can do about students who are giving you a bad mark because they're failing, even though they'd done nothing to contribute to classroom discussions, and have instead been playing around in the back row the whole time disrupting everyone.
You guys actually take attendance for lectures in the US? Yikes. That just sounds painful. For workshop and tutorial classes, sure, but a lecture with potentially hundreds of students? What's the point? if they don't turn up, it's their own damn problem if they fail.
That's not a bad idea. I've had something similar before, where a Lecturer instructed laptop users that they couldn't type during the lecture, but they were encouraged to use the webcams and mics in their laptops to record the lecture and distribute it to their classmates.
They didn't pull the Virtual Boy because of this, but you can damn well bet that this has a lot to do with why they added that slider to the 3DS to allow people to adjust the 3D effect in the game, including turning the 3D effect off (which apparently may also help in saving battery life, though I have no idea how that works exactly).
Indeed. Jimbo should just give up the farce that Wikipedia and Wikia are separate organisatons already. While Wikipedia is a wonderful idea (even if it is a pain for me as an academic with idiot students citing it as a reference), it's link to Wikia will only continue to drag it down in my eyes.
Realistically though, if the Jimbo owned Wikipedia dies, you just know someone with more money is going to make use of its open licensed content to resurrect it. I'm honestly surprised we don't already have a Googlepedia (unless you count SideWiki maybe) or Bingpedia.
...that there's an academic article or two to be written on this. A dataset like this would be particularly valuable to research on consumer privacy/security behaviours. Of course, that's assuming one could get it past the ethical review committee...
I disagree. False positives aren't intrinsically bad in and of themselves. What matters is how they handle those false positives. You're assuming that they'll handle them like the RIAA, but at this point there's no reason to assume it'll go that way except for cynicism and anti-corporatism. At this point, it seems that this company is trying to give people a fairer go, and that it's certainly a vast improvement over RIAA style tactics, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I also disagree with the idea that this is similar to vigilantism. It's more similar to that software you can put on your mobile phone or laptop to trace it when it's stolen. While as a Pirate Party member I do feel there are fundamental problems with copyright as it's currently employed, in particular the length of copyrights, that doesn't change the fact that companies do have a right to protect their copyrights and their (intellectual) property. In fact, one could say they have a legal responsibility to protect their copyright as well. The fact is that if companies don't defend their copyrighted properties from these sort of things, it can be considered as legally the equivalent of them abandoning their ownership over it. No company, even one which thinks it could stand to gain from illegal downloads (ie. through word of mouth, goodwill, development of brand loyalty, etc), is willing to risk that.
To me, that's not an argument for torrenting full games, it's an argument for the return of shareware as a prominent tool in the marketing of games. Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is a perfect example. It's not full price, it's additional content and story to the actual game, and it gives you more than enough of a taste to actually make a decision on if you want it or not.
You're angry at them for...what exactly? Demanding reasonable out-of-court settlements from those who downloaded illegally (as opposed to the unreasonable out-of-court settlements commonly placed on people who've torrented music by the RIAA), and releasing their game without DRM. Seems fair enough to me. The only real concern is how many "false positives" they might get from people who never downloaded a thing, or whose internet connections were used illegally and/or without their knowledge.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, it's fairly evident that the fanboy hate is out in force today, if the above post has already been reduced to a 0 score. Sadly, it appears that many people simply can't accept the idea that something may be appropriate for a "core gamer" if it doesn't have a controller scheme based around 2 thumbsticks. Really does make me wonder how many of them have taken the time to actually give one of those games on the Wii a real shot. So many people just try it for 15 minutes and give up, getting too frustrated too quickly about the quirks of the controls being completely different to what they're used to on a traditional controller. There seems to be an expectation that because it's motion control, they should be able to get used to it instantly. While that's true for non-gamers who don't have a lot of habits to break, it can take a while for gamers who have become used to dual-analog sticks to adapt.
Fairly sure we've had one for a while now, considering I just saw it down at my local shops. Not that it's seen much support.
Oh, here it is, and on Slashdot no less. The Asus Eee Stick, released circa 2008. My, how soon we forget.
Both New Zealand and Australia tend to be rather more liberated about language than the rest of the english speaking world, in my experience. Our politicians would be more free with what they can say during interviews for prime time news (or even in election debates) than what I gather Americans would let some of their comedians get away with after midnight. Bugger, bastard, bloody, shit-faced, wanker, etc, etc, it doesn't even rate a shrug.
Liberia is currently transitioning to the metric system, so I wouldn't say they particularly love imperial measurements.
Short-form of cm is "cent", as in "a standard metric ruler is 30 cents". Though I'm also heard people just say "C.M." Don't forget also the alternative shortening for a kilometer already in common use in the US (military), "klick".
"Especially if everyone is using imperial"? Isn't this the entire point here? Everyone else, or that is to say, every other country of the world (except for two third world shitholes, one of which is currently converting to metric) uses the metric system for the vast majority of all measurements. Continuing use of the old imperial measurements by the US would be like consumers demanding companies continue to release movies in HD-DVD as well even though Blu-Ray has long since won that war. Actually, considering the gap between the systems of measurement, perhaps I should say that it's more like demanding companies release in Betamax instead of Blu-Ray.
Appeal to Authority fallacy much? Michio Kaku is an *American* Theoretical physicist whose work has little if anything to do with nuclear engineering. He is Japanese only by ethnicity (his parents both being immigrants), not that it's actually relevant to his views or their accuracy anyway. He's freely admitted in the past that he's biased against Nuclear power, due apparently to some radio programs he heard as a student, and is prominent in the anti-nuclear movement. He's also made similar alarmist remarks about nuclear power before, most notably in regards to the Cassini probe and its fuel. The guy is a great ambassador to the masses for science generally, but in this case he's just flat wrong.
Indeed. If this court case would make that illegal, I wonder if the government might move to legislate the issue away.
...developers whose business is making the software for online forums. Those of you who run large web forums yourselves can probably guess who I'm talking about.
Yes, it's perfectly valid to not have the creative guys reading the forums on a regular basis (though if they post occasionally to make it look like they're taking an interest, it's generally a good thing), but you should certainly have support and marketing staff watching it. Those marketing guys have to remember though that the people on suc h user forums tend to be a vocal minority with an entitlement complex, who'll demand you make the game to satisfy their whims because they're your "biggest fans", no matter that the majority of the users will often want something totally different.
Agreed. I hear a whole of people talk down on the Wii controls, including for FPS, but I've never met a single person who hasn't found the Wii controls superior after actually sitting down and playing a couple of extended sessions. So many people just try it for 15 minutes and give up, getting too frustrated too quickly about the different quirks of the controls. There seems to be an expectation that because it's motion control, they should be able to get used to it instantly. While that's true for non-gamers who don't have a lot of habits to break, it can take a while for gamers who have become used to dual-analog sticks to adapt.
Then you're probably holding it wrong. The "arm raised pointing directly down at the screen" that so many people do is, I find, the most tiring and least precise way to hold it. Looks great in ads and at demo stations, but is horrible for actual extended gameplay.
New Zealand. 100% Pure, 100% Natural. 0 % Infantry, Navy or Air Force. 100% there for the taking.
What's stopping the student copying down the URL and looking at it outside of class time, or actually being prepared and downloading the required task material (and reading the slides posted up on the Blackboard site by the lecturer) prior to the lecture?
I used to do similar with my classes, though I found it came back to bite me at the end of semester in the "Teacher Evaluation surveys". Not a whole lot you can do about students who are giving you a bad mark because they're failing, even though they'd done nothing to contribute to classroom discussions, and have instead been playing around in the back row the whole time disrupting everyone.
You guys actually take attendance for lectures in the US? Yikes. That just sounds painful. For workshop and tutorial classes, sure, but a lecture with potentially hundreds of students? What's the point? if they don't turn up, it's their own damn problem if they fail.
That's not a bad idea. I've had something similar before, where a Lecturer instructed laptop users that they couldn't type during the lecture, but they were encouraged to use the webcams and mics in their laptops to record the lecture and distribute it to their classmates.
They didn't pull the Virtual Boy because of this, but you can damn well bet that this has a lot to do with why they added that slider to the 3DS to allow people to adjust the 3D effect in the game, including turning the 3D effect off (which apparently may also help in saving battery life, though I have no idea how that works exactly).
Indeed. Jimbo should just give up the farce that Wikipedia and Wikia are separate organisatons already. While Wikipedia is a wonderful idea (even if it is a pain for me as an academic with idiot students citing it as a reference), it's link to Wikia will only continue to drag it down in my eyes. Realistically though, if the Jimbo owned Wikipedia dies, you just know someone with more money is going to make use of its open licensed content to resurrect it. I'm honestly surprised we don't already have a Googlepedia (unless you count SideWiki maybe) or Bingpedia.
...that there's an academic article or two to be written on this. A dataset like this would be particularly valuable to research on consumer privacy/security behaviours. Of course, that's assuming one could get it past the ethical review committee...
Nah, those aren't around any more. They got put out of business for not having the proper licenses to sell second hand goods. Seriously.
I disagree. False positives aren't intrinsically bad in and of themselves. What matters is how they handle those false positives. You're assuming that they'll handle them like the RIAA, but at this point there's no reason to assume it'll go that way except for cynicism and anti-corporatism. At this point, it seems that this company is trying to give people a fairer go, and that it's certainly a vast improvement over RIAA style tactics, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I also disagree with the idea that this is similar to vigilantism. It's more similar to that software you can put on your mobile phone or laptop to trace it when it's stolen. While as a Pirate Party member I do feel there are fundamental problems with copyright as it's currently employed, in particular the length of copyrights, that doesn't change the fact that companies do have a right to protect their copyrights and their (intellectual) property. In fact, one could say they have a legal responsibility to protect their copyright as well. The fact is that if companies don't defend their copyrighted properties from these sort of things, it can be considered as legally the equivalent of them abandoning their ownership over it. No company, even one which thinks it could stand to gain from illegal downloads (ie. through word of mouth, goodwill, development of brand loyalty, etc), is willing to risk that.
Whoops, wrong one. I meant Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, not Chop Till You Drop.
To me, that's not an argument for torrenting full games, it's an argument for the return of shareware as a prominent tool in the marketing of games. Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop is a perfect example. It's not full price, it's additional content and story to the actual game, and it gives you more than enough of a taste to actually make a decision on if you want it or not.
You're angry at them for...what exactly? Demanding reasonable out-of-court settlements from those who downloaded illegally (as opposed to the unreasonable out-of-court settlements commonly placed on people who've torrented music by the RIAA), and releasing their game without DRM. Seems fair enough to me. The only real concern is how many "false positives" they might get from people who never downloaded a thing, or whose internet connections were used illegally and/or without their knowledge.